Report shows most Canadian healthcare providers use electronic medical records

According to a recently-released report, Canadian clinicians vastly prefer interoperable electronic health records (iEHR).

Two articles in the BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making peer-reviewed research journal claim that 91,235 healthcare providers in Canada are active users of one of two iEHR components (for example, access to diagnostic images and drug information outside of their organization).

“The evidence confirms that use of the interoperable Electronic Health Record systems built by the provinces, territories, and their many partners over the past 15 years is delivering patient care benefits and improvements for providers as intended,” said Michael Green, the president and CEO of the Canada Health Infoway, in a statement. 

These numbers were obtained as of March 2015, though 12 months later that figure jumped by an additional 50 percent to reach 139,000. Furthermore, more than 250,000 clinicians across Canada use at least one component of iEHR.

A push towards digital health as been pronounced in Canada as startups and large corporations alike have taken up the challenge of bringing Canada’s healthcare system online. Telus, for example, is one of the country’s largest providers of health IT products — and deals largely in iEHRs.

“The use of the iEHR by Canadian clinicians is beyond the tipping point, and following closely behind are patients and caregivers, who also expect to have the ability to make use of digital health tools and capabilities, as they should,” added Green. 

Related: Telus health to acquire Nightingale’s Canadian EMR assets

[source]Canada Health Infoway[/source]